Mark your calendars, butterfly and pollinator fans. San Antonio’s Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival at Pearl will take place October 20 – 22 this fall during peak Monarch butterfly migration week. Join us for three fun days of events to celebrate the majesty and magic of Monarch butterflies and other pollinators.Thursday, Oct. 20th, 6 PM – 8 PM: Buen Viaje, Mariposa Monarca! at the Instituto Cultural Mexicano in HemisFair Park. FREE ADMISSION.Mexican artist Ignacio Arcas presents “Buen Viaje, Mariposa Monarca!,” a nature photography exhibit of Monarchs’ roosting sites in Michoacán, Mexico. Arcas will be present to discuss his artwork, and Mexican forester and symposium panelist Dr. Cuauhtémoc Saenz Romero from Michoacán will join us to chat with the audience about the Monarch migration.

Textile designer Pineda-Covalín will present a collection of their Monarch butterfly inspired wares, and an installation by artist David J. Romero replicating the Monarch butterfly roosting sites will welcome guests to the Instituto.

Sponsored by the Instituto Cultural Mexicano and Texas Butterfly Ranch

Dan Goodgame, VP of Corporate Communications for Rackspace, will moderate a timely discussion with the distinguished panelists listed below.

Dr. Cuauhtémoc Saenz Romero, a forester from Michoacán, Mexico, who proposes moving the Monarchs’ roosting sites higher up the mountain to save them from the impacts of climate change.

Catalina Trail“discovered” the Monarch roosting sites in Michoacán, Mexico after years of searching as a citizen scientist. Trail, from Morelia, graced the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1976 as a 25-year-old mexicana. She and her then husband Kenneth Brugger led scientists to the site where the Monarchs roost, and the news rocked the butterfly world. She currently lives in Austin.UPDATE: Catalina Trail will not be able to attend due to health matters. Monika Maeckle, founder of the Texas Butterfly Ranch, will take her place as a panelist at the symposium.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoeis an evangelical Christian, climate change expert, and the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She holds a Ph.D in atmospheric science and coauthored the book A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions with her husband, Andrew Farley.

Cathy Downs, a conservation specialist for Monarch Watch based in Comfort, Texas, teaches hundreds of children and adults each year about the magic and science of the Monarch butterfly migration.

Dan Goodgame, moderator, is vice-president for executive communications at Rackspace, a global leader in cloud computing. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and best-selling author, Goodgame describes himself as a “recovering journalist.” He worked as a top editor at TIME and FORTUNE, a White House correspondent, and a foreign correspondent in the Middle East and Europe.

Join us as we honor Monarchs and other pollinators everywhere. The People for Pollinators Parade, lead by San Antonio’s Pedaling Pollinators and Earn-A-Bike Coop, kicks off the festivities at 9:30 AM with custom built bikes that resemble butterflies. COSTUMES ENCOURAGED.

The EarnaBike Coop’s Pedaling Pollinators will lead the People for Pollinators Parade. Courtesy photo.

Special thanks to our sponsors and to Mayor Ivy Taylor for signing the National Wildlife Federation Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.

SPONSORSHIPS are still available. Check back here for schedules and updates.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Dr. Saenz Romero was proposing moving the forest 2,000 feet higher in elevation because climate change suggested the forest would not survive within 20 years.

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I posted the flyer for the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival on a Facebook page and got the comment “Wait. You captured the Monarchs? They desperately need to get on with their migration. Let them go.”

I wrote a long response suggesting that since one of the main purposes of the event is to celebrate the fall Monarch butterfly migration I’m guessing the butterflies being let go are ones briefly captured for tagging en route to Mexico (not for captivity purposes). Or, that since many organizations are also raising monarch butterflies in an effort to restore the original population levels that have declined maybe these are butterflies that have been born in captivity and will be let go during the peak fall migration time so that they can join and travel with their wild counterparts.
Right before posting my long-winded response I realized I should just ask you where the butterflies that are going to be released are coming from so that I can give the woman a true and straight-forward response!

Predator Protected raising of monarchs and other species of butterflies under “natural” conditions minus the predators increases the percentage of “lucky” healthy monarchs that aren’t consumed or killed by predators until they reach the “in Flight” stage and they’re able to reproduce and add to the population. Texas has been invaded by foreign populations of fire ants and other unnatural predators which have decimated wildlife populations. When butterflies are set free into nature this does help feed the native predator food chain which is also vital for a complete natural cycle of wild creatures. It does however give monarchs a better chance to increase and stay ahead of predator numbers. Raising and releasing healthy monarchs also raises awareness of their beauty and more people become involved in helping them survive. An example of protected raising of wildlife is the premise of raising salmon by the federal government in hatcheries started in the 1870s’ and the reason U S Fish and Wildlife was founded in the first place. It has been proven butterflies raised and released during the fall migratory season will move south and help increase the Mexican overwintering population in Mexico. “The Beautiful Monarch” is a Facebook page where over 7000 enthusiasts share their experience safely raising monarch butterflies. http://www.MonarchZones.com in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is a large organization with scientific oversight demonstrating how entire communities can be involved in monarch conservation. The following link has articles explaining what’s going on.